Healome raises £2M seed to make eye drops last longer on the eye
What's the deal? Healome TherapeuticsDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a University of Birmingham spinout, has closed an oversubscribed £2 million seed round led by Empirical VenturesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →. DEBRA ResearchDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Cure EBDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Oshen BioDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, and existing investor SFC CapitalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → also joined.
What's the endgame? The company is developing an eye-drop matrix that behaves like a liquid when dropped on the eye, then restructures into a clear, protective coating that stays put longer. It aims to treat dry eye, ocular surface inflammation, corneal injury, and rare conditions causing severe eye-surface damage.
Conventional eye drops clear from the eye in minutes, pushing dosing to as much as 20 times a day. In chronic-use patients, adherence can fall as low as 20%.
What's the money for? Proceeds will fund pre-clinical development, manufacturing scale-up, regulatory engagement with the MHRA and FDA, and first-in-human studies expected in 2027. The platform can carry drugs from small molecules to complex biologics, and holds five patent families.
Investment from DEBRA Research and Cure EB will back work on Epidermolysis Bullosa, a rare genetic condition affecting about 500,000 people globally, of whom an estimated 5-20% face sight-threatening eye complications.
Why it convinced investors: "Healome targets a quantifiable bottleneck — drug residence time on the ocular surface — with a manufacturing-friendly approach built on well-characterised polymers," said Johnathan MatlockDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, co-founder and general partner at Empirical Ventures. He called it "a category-defining platform rather than an incremental formulation play."
Chief executive officer Richard WilliamsDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → said the technology "opens the door to reduced dosing, better adherence and ultimately improved outcomes across a range of indications."
The signal: The round sits in roughly the 61st percentile by size — modest for the sector, but notable. Backed by around £4.5 million in prior grant funding, Healome shows institutional investors leaning into a de-risked, clinical-stage platform in ophthalmology, where dry eye alone is US$3.24B market and the broader ocular surface opportunity tops $12 billion.
Read more: finanznachrichten.de
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